Trying something new

Jun13

I’ve just been working on my Penny sweater this week and the sleeves are going really quickly. The first one is on hold and I’ve got the second one started. AND I even tried something new for the second sleeve: I’m knitting it on two circulars!

img_8004I got such terrible laddering with the first sleeve on DPNs that I needed to do something different for the second. I thought about knitting it inside out, since I don’t have issues with laddering with knit stitches, just purling. But I knew my gauge would be different then — I purl more loosely than I knit. I don’t even know what prompted me to try the two circs thing but after some awkwardness, I’ve gotten into the groove and it’s going smoothly. Bonus: NO ladders! I guess it’s worth trying new techniques every once in a while.

Marathon, not a sprint

Jun11

I’m wiped out, guys. Between the state of the world and some stuff going on behind the scenes, my mental/emotional state is kind of a wreck. I’m really struggling with going back to sharing knitting and dogs on social media, especially Instagram. It seems so trivial and petty right now. But I’m here, and I’m knitting. Mostly I’ve been working on my Penny sweater. I’ve got the body done and most of one sleeve done.

img_7997I’ve discovered I much prefer knitting sleeves separately rather than when they’re already attached to a big lump of sweater you have to keep adjusting. However, I’ve also discovered that when I purl on DPNs, I get the worst ladders. Here’s hoping that shit blocks out.

The other day I also ventured out to a yarn store. I made all the necessary precautions (sanitizer before and after, masks, limited touching of the yarn) and it was really comforting to be back in a familiar and pleasant environment. I miss yarn stores.

img_7990It’s all sock yarn, probably no surprise there, though I suppose it could grow up to be something other than socks.

Happy whatever-day-this-is, friends. Hope you’re all staying safe and healthy.

What can you do?

Jun3

No knitting content right now. Here are some things I’ve done, and some resources you can check out if you want to do something but don’t know what.

  • Changed my view on Instagram: Literally. I spent some time this morning digging through Instagram, finding new accounts to follow. Yesterday my feed was filled with black squares, and while I appreciate the intent, I want to see the posts from those BIPOC, and I wasn’t following enough to offset the black squares. Want some ideas? Check out who I follow, then see who they follow. Follow, like, share, repeat. My Insta right now is sharing those voices, not mine.
  • Donated to Dye Hard Yarns’ Go Fund Me to help her get a Community Dye Studio up and running. Remember my Bonny Lass yarn? This is her.
  • Preordered a “Raise Some Heck” t-shirt (plus an awesome pin) from Tyler Thrasher. Proceeds will help support bailing out protestors and providing science experiment kits for black families to do at home in Tulsa. ETA: this preorder is no longer available.

Want more? Check out some really cool beaded and leather jewelry from Antoinette’s Originals on Etsy, made by Antoinette Houston, who also writes and self-publishes science fiction. You can see more about her on her website.

Here are a few other ideas:

 

This is just a start. My money isn’t bottomless but I can keep listening, keep sharing, keep reading, keep learning, keep loving. Wishing you love and peace, friends.

Sock It To Me Monday

Jun2

I cast on a new sock first thing this morning for the Pride Month KAL. Of the two yarns I was pondering, Born This Way from MollyGirl Yarn was the overwhelming favorite, and I had to agree that it seemed the perfect choice. And I decided to jazz it up just a tiny bit more by picking a new pattern to me, Heel Toe Do Si Do. Guys, this project is addictive.

944DFB50-B0DA-4F4A-9859-B5AA71022B8EEverything about this is perfect for me: the colors, the striping, the sparkle, the subtle chevrons. These will be easy to finish within a month.

Rainbow KAL?

May29

Apparently Sarah Jane at Mildly Granola is hosting a Pride Sock KAL for June, and I’m ready for some bright rainbow-ish socks. Which should I use??

img_7830Neither are true rainbows, but they’re the closest I have. The top is a self-striping called Make Me Smile, and the bottom is named Born This Way, which seems appropriate for Pride Month. Which would you knit?

Also today was a very good mail day and I got my new project bag that I ordered from Orange Jellyfish Dream. They’re hand-dyed and extremely well-made. I think I’ll put my new sock project in it! They had other colors too. You can see them here.

EDF80659-D0D1-48BB-BB8A-4F84939E097C_1_201_aOh yeah, I got the matching pouch too. Oops.

Wait, it’s Tuesday?

May26

I saw someone’s Sock It To Me Monday post last night and was genuinely confused — I was sure yesterday was Sunday! Especially without a work schedule to ground me, my days are all muddled now. But apparently today is Tuesday so I’ll show you my finished sock a day late.

img_7856This is the Orange Jellyfish Dream yarn in my go-to sock recipe: ribbed leg, stockinette foot. I did most of the toe while on a Skype call Saturday night so it might not be exactly correct, but it’s toe-shaped so that’s a plus.

But the WIP getting all my attention right now is my new Olive Pink shawl. This is with four colors of SoLo from Lolo Did It and I am loving this project.

8D9E7CA3-73D6-4324-94EB-05B859C10924_1_201_aThere are so many color changes and stitch changes that it keeps me going to get to the next section, and I’m really pleased with the colors I chose. I’m eager to get a little more green in there, though. Even though this is 20 sections and I’m only on the sixth, I have a feeling this shawl will fly off my needles. Especially since I might need some comfort knitting! The kids have both left today, on the way to Colorado. The girl needed to move out of her old apartment and into her new one, and the boy was desperate to get out of the house, so he joined her to help clean and pack. It’ll be a big change after having her home with us for about six weeks. I’d gotten used to it and we were all having a lot of fun, so I’m a bit blue today. But, c’est la vie, right?

Happy Tuesday, friends. Hope you have better weather than our gray skies and rain!

A new craft!

May25

When I was about 12, my mom thought I needed to learn to sew. With her help, I made a pair of white cotton shorts. They fit fine, but I didn’t love the process and didn’t sew anything else after that. For the next 20 years or so, the only sewing I did was sewing on buttons. Even when the girl wanted to learn to sew, and got a machine and all the tools, I was happy to sit back and let her learn from her aunt and grandmas.

But then I started crocheting and knitting, and I made some bags that needed liners. The knitting SIL, an accomplished sewist herself, walked me through the basics and I used the girl’s sewing machine to make a couple of simple linings, which I then hand-stitched into the bags. Then I got tired of that, and a few months ago, got rid of my fabric scraps because I didn’t have the inclination to sew more.

Oh, but then the evil pandemic began. First I knitted masks and hand-stitched linings in them, but that was a long process. I saw the simple pleated masks and figured I could manage those. It took me a while to remember how to use the machine, but I made a few with fabric ties. Then I made a few with elastic from hair ties. It was fast, and kind of fun. I ordered brightly-colored cotton and made a few more with elastic. But I hadn’t realized how much fabric two yards was, and I wondered what else I could make with all this fabric.

I remembered the little knot bag that Sarah Jane gave me a few months ago — it seemed pretty simple. She sent me the link for the pattern on Etsy, which is awesome and has three sizes. Since Sarah Jane made me a small one, I decided I’d try the medium size. A few hours later, I had a new bag, and it’s even reversible!

This is a perfect pattern for beginners, nice and simple, and I can’t wait to make another one. I might make another small one before I tackle the large size, which also has a pocket. And pretty soon I might need to start getting some fabric, because I only have three solids and I’m gonna need more than that!

Oh heck I’m tired

May21

The living room is done. I had to push myself to do it, but Tuesday was prep and yesterday was paint and now it’s done and I can stop painting for a while. I still love the results but my body needs a rest and my brain needs some knitting. Plus my book group is having a virtual meeting tomorrow so I need to skim the book (which I read a while back) to refresh my memory. It’s a little one, The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg, so it’s a fast read. Lots of paint work meant no knitting, so I’ll just share my living room today.

It’s the same pale gray as my bedroom and I like the subtle contrast with the darker gray in the dining room. Now if we could just get the floors refinished!

Making it up as I go along

May19

Many months ago, in the before-time when we were able to go places and look at things and buy them in person, I bought the neatest handmade oak cabinet for my pen accessories. Perhaps it was originally a jewelry case, as the top drawer is sectioned off and lined with red felt. The other drawers are unlined though, and recently I thought it would be fun to knit drawer liners with leftover sock yarn. There weren’t any patterns in Ravelry that were similar to what I had in mind, but there was a table runner in fingering weight with a width close to what I wanted. That gave me a starting point for how many stitches to cast on and what needle to start with.

After a couple of tries, I landed on a cast-on of 92 stitches with size 2 needles. I did a garter border but then as I started thinking about the body, I decided I wanted some kind of ridge to create valleys for pens to rest in. I did a few rows of k6, p2 / p6, k2 but that wasn’t creating a ridge on the stockinette side, so I switched to a garter ridge instead of a purl ridge. Nope, that didn’t work either, so I went back to the purl ridge. Though it created a dip on the smooth “right” side, it made a nice ridge on the purled “wrong” side, and I decided I just needed to adjust my thinking and switch right and wrong.

I kept knitting until I ran out of yarn and after blocking I ended up with a rectangle about 13″ by 4″. It’s a good length for the drawers but I want it deeper to fill the whole drawer, so I need about 40 grams to get a piece 13″ x 9″.

However, what I discovered is that 4″ is the perfect length for my Kaweco pens, and I happened to have exactly enough spots for all of them!

193A40E8-D799-4768-8C23-937BEF779B2FThis was a fun little weekend distraction, and I’m looking forward to making a full-size version soon!

Finished: Dowland Shawl

May18

My Dowland shawl got blocked this weekend, and after the boy mowed the backyard I went out for a photo shoot. It posed beautifully, too. Prepare yourself for a photo-heavy post because it was hard to choose which ones to omit!

45957989-6B81-4A3B-BD04-6BAE994D1CBC_1_201_aI’ll start with the obvious: this is a huge shawl. I used all but 14 grams of my two skeins of Kitty Pride Fibers’ Ocicat Fingering in the color A Bonny Lass. The pattern says you can repeat section eight up to two times to use up more yarn, so I repeated it once. I didn’t want to risk running out of yarn, though I think I could have squeaked through just fine.

The last lace section gave me fits. I had to rip out thirty rows of lace the first time I knit it. The second time went better, but I still had three rows where I ended up off by one stitch, and I just fudged it. I couldn’t stand any more tinking or frogging. I did spot one of the errors when I was pinning it out, where the yarnovers didn’t line up just right, but no one will ever notice it while I’m wearing it, and it doesn’t detract from the overall beauty of the lace pattern.

After I had it all pinned out, I realized I did not pin the scallops correctly, so there are more scallops and they’re closer together than the designer intended. But by then, it was mostly dry and again, I wanted this shawl just to be done, so I’m calling it a design feature.

726BB99D-595F-4B7D-BBF6-78246BD7FF75_1_201_a

This was not an easy knit for me but it might be one of my proudest knitting moments. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted from my Bonny yarn, and I can’t wait to have somewhere to wear it to show it off!